How did 48 hours of exciting live music draw to a close so fast? I woke up Sunday morning with the slightly wistful feel that my whirlwind weekend would soon be over, but I quickly shook that and rushed to the “L” to get downtown for the final day of Lollapalooza 2011.

Due to my persistent caffeine addiction, I was late to Grant Park. I missed The Joy Formidable (though luckily we can all see them at the MidPoint Music Festival on Sept. 22), as well as Titus Andronicus and Fences, all bands I wanted to give a good go. I guess that’s what YouTube, Soundcloud, Facebook, MySpace, etc. are for.

The full lineup for this year’s MidPoint Music Festival is expected to be announced before Friday’s MidPoint Indie Summer concert on Fountain Square, but the schedule for one specially-themed hub of venues is now known. The stages along Jackson Street, the small cut-through road on which Know Theatre (which has two MPMF stages) and ArtWorks (one stage) are being collectively rebranded as “MidPoint’s Bioré Strip,” named for a product from sponsor Bioré Skincare, and will celebrate pioneering women in music and the female artist’s important role in local music and MPMF’s10-year history. The stages on the “Strip” will highlight women solo performers and acts with a female presence, a collection of performers from across the globe that includes the biggest acts at the festival (Deerhoof, Xiu Xiu, The Watson Twins), buzzing up-and-comers (Jessica Lea Mayfield, The Worsties, Lydia Loveless) and local favorites.(Carole Walker, Kelly Fine, The Fairmount Girls). See the full three-day lineup below.

I had been invited to an after-party Friday night, sponsored by Belvedere Vodka, at the W Chicago City Center downtown. I went in my sweaty Lolla regalia, and was rewarded with performances by Two Door Cinema Club and Fitz and the Tantrums.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This year's 20th anniversary edition of Lollapalooza in Chicago's Grant Park was once again a live, breathing, three-day mixtape featuring star artists (Coldplay, Eminem, Foo Fighters), established performers, cult heroes and up-and-comers. Local writer Leyla Shokoohe attended her very first Lollapalooza this past weekend and agreed to write about the experience for CityBeat. Below is her report on Day 1 as well as video from some of the performances mentioned, mostly from Lollapalooza's YouTube page. Keep an eye on this space for Day 2 and 3 dispatches soon.

Next weekend, the Lollapalooza music festival returns to Chicago for its 20th anniversary extravaganza. CityBeat will have some reporters in the field covering the event, but most of us don't have the money for such a costly road trip this year. Thankfully, you can have a sort of "virtual reality" audio experience of Lollapalooza without leaving your bed or sweating more than a boxer in the final round. And you can do it all in under an hour.

Hinder is a wildly successful Oklahoma Hard Rock comprised of members Austin Winkler (lead vocalist), Joe “Blower” Garvey (lead guitarist), Mark King (rhythm guitarist), Mike Rodden (bassist) and Cody Hanson (drummer). The band blew up in 2005 with the release of its debut studio album Extreme Behavior, which featured popular hits “Get Stoned” and “Lips of an Angel.”

The band is climbing the charts again with the single “What Ya Gonna Do” off their third studio album, All American Nightmare.
CityBeat caught up with the band prior to their performance at RockFest in Cadott, Wisc.They had time to discuss the new album and the festival life. The band will be rocking the entire summer hitting rock festivals all across the country.

CityBeat: You’re out here in the metropolis of Wisconsin. What did you guys do last night?
Austin: We played a show in Indiana.

CB: So you were on the bus last night?
Group: Yeah

CB: Is this your first time at RockFest?
Austin: I don’t think so. I think we’ve played this before in 2007.
Blower: I know we’ve played this venue.
Austin: We played with Three Doors Down in ’07.

CB: What can we expect today from the set?
Cody: Rain!
Austin: Rain and Lots of wetness.
Cody: We’re going to get the chicks wet tonight.
Mark: God is doing it for us.
Cody: Wow!

CB: That’s the line of the day. You guys were just at Rock on the Range. What was your craziest Rock on the Range story?
Mike: I think I pissed myself that night.

CB: Any particular reason?
Mark: I don’t remember why because I was blacked out but I definitely woke up with some wet pants.
Cody: Shit I was so hammered that night, I might have pissed your pants.
Austin: I got so high, I didn’t know where the phone was.

CB: Did you guys go to Rocklahoma after that or did you just go on tour?
Austin: Yeah, we did Rocklahoma for the first time. That was pretty awesome. It was about time too because we are from there.

CB: I love the new album. It was one of my favorites that I listened to prep for Rock on the Range. I’ve been listening to it ever since. What’s your favorite tracks to play live on the album?
Mark: “Two Sides of Me” is one of my favorites to play live. It’s a good little rocker.
Austin: “What You Gonna Do” is one of my favorites to play recently.

CB: It’s catchy. I can say it with you.
Mike: Tell that to radio.

CB: It’s all over the radio. I’ve been in traffic coming into this place for a day and I think I heard it three times today. I think they got the memo that you were here. You guys have toured with some huge bands. Are there any other bands that you would like to tour with or play with?
Austin: I want to play with the Rolling Stones.That would be awesome.

CB: You guys did Aerosmith for a few dates right?Group: Yeah
Austin: That was badass.
Mike: I’d like to play with The Doors, if that was possible.

CB: I had a question about “Striptease.” Any particular strippers or clubs that inspired that song?
Austin: I think it’s a lot of the bullshit that’s being shoved down people’s throats these days.
Cody: It’s more about a few of the pop artists and you can throw some reality stars in there.
Mike: Yeah, it’s kind of like they belong more in a strip club than they do on the radio or TV. That’s about how much talent they have.
Mark: Dude Ke$ha is talented, alright.

CB: In more ways than one right?
Cody: I doubt that. I did just see a picture of her online yesterday with her holding her tits and a big wad of nut underneath.
Group: Are you kidding me?

CB: Are we sure it was her?Cody: Yeah, or it was some nasty bitch that looked just like her.

CB: So what has been the highlight of 2011 for you guys so far?
Mike: I don’t think we have any super-big highlights.
Austin: The fact we have our third record out is pretty awesome. Being well-received by our fans, I think that’s pretty badass.
Mike: We might just make a highlight tonight.

CB: I have to tell you. I was here last night and Rob Zombie made a highlight.
Cody: What did he do?

CB: The stage, as you know is two-tiered. He said, “Everybody is too far away. Come up on the stage.” So all the girls came up on the stage with them for four songs. He said, “If you behave. Don’t fuck it up.” Next thing you know I am running onto the stage and at John 5’s feet. So I think that shocked the security and the venue for a minute. So you guys can try it. Nobody got hurt.
Mark: They are a lot braver than us.
Blower: A lot more scary looking too.

CB: Any regrets over the years?
Mike: Yeah, we have lots of those. We have a whole bag of them.
Cody: We have tons of regrets and mistakes we have made over the years. Especially when you first start out being a band. You are green and you let outside people have a little too much control and make some bad decisions for you. If we could go back, we would probably have a lot more money.

CB: Do you guys all still live in Oklahoma.
Austin: I don’t. I live in California.
Cody: But the rest of us do.

CB: How often do you get home?
Cody: We just came from home. We have been home for quite a bit on this cycle. It’s been a little more relaxed. We’re out on this run for like seven weeks. So it’s good to be out.

CB: Do you guys prefer to play festivals like this and Rock on the Range or your own shows where you have your own, obviously your fan base is here too, but when you have your own shows, you know who is there?
Austin: Either way, we bring the same show. I guess sometimes when we play like Rock on the Range, we only get a certain amount of time. We come in and play 40 or 45 minutes, that kind of sucks. I wish we could play longer. Other than that, we bring the same show no matter what.
Mike: It’s kind of cool too, to have a break from the same tour every night and have a few festivals stuck in there because the lineup is different, there are different bands at all the festivals. So it’s cool to get a change from the everyday show.

CB: Anybody you are looking forward to seeing today?
Blower: I’ve never seen Kid Rock so I am pretty stoked about that.

CB: You guys are touring with the new album. Have you started working on any new music yet?
Austin: Not necessarily recording in the studio but we are always coming up with ideas and stuff on the road. We kind of never really stop writing.

CB: What’s your process? Do you guys do it together or separately?
Austin: Usually me and Cody will sit down with acoustic guitars and write the nutshell of the song and bring it to the rest of the guys and they put their thing on it.

CB: How does the feedback session go?
Mike: Pretty straight forward.

CB: You guys have been together forever so you can take it right?
Group: Yeah

CB: You guys had a ton of songs to pick from for this album?
Cody: We’re hoping to be able to recycle some of those and use some for the next record. There are some really great songs that didn’t make it. Hopefully we’ll pick some of them out for the next one.

Machine Head has given us six studio albums with the seventh upcoming in September called Unto the Locusts (listen to the first single, "Locust," below). The band has headlined every Metal festival across the country and has been inspiring up and coming Metal bands for years. CityBeat caught up with lead singer Robb Flynn to preview this week’s Mayhem Festival, which hits Riverbend this Wednesday. Flynn discussed the path that Machine Head has taken to get to its place among Metal's elite, the group's craziest fans and the band's new album.

Straight Line Stitch is pure Metal with a strong sound behind lead vocalist Alexis Brown. The band has released seven studio offerings; the most recent, The Fight For Our Lives, came out earlier this year. The album soared up the charts, reaching the Top 5 on Billboard’s Heatseekers and cracking the Top 40 on the Independent Albums chart. CityBeat spoke with Alexis to preview the Mayhem Festival, which comes to Cincinnati's Riverbend this Wednesday.

The Mayhem Festival takes over Riverbend July 20 and CityBeat will be featuring bands throughout the week leading up to the festival. Trivium is one of the groups playing this year, represent the new school of Metal at its best. The band, out of Orlando, is signed with Roadrunner Records and its fifth studio album, In Waves, is expected to be released in August.

The eerie humming sound that kicked off The Afghan Whigs' 1993 major label debut, Gentlemen (considered by many to be one of the best albums of the ’90s), sounded mysterious to those who’ve never visited Greater Cincinnati. But those in Northern Kentucky and Cincy knew that rhythmic buzzing wasn’t a swarm of bees or a loop of some old man snoring. To anyone who frequently traveled across the Roebling Suspension Bridge over the Ohio River, the sound was instantly recognizable as the sound created by the cars, buses and trucks driving across the bridge’s distinctive blue grating. So in some ways, it makes perfect sense that this year’s RoeblingFest, Saturday’s daylong celebration of the 155-year-old structure, is showcasing some high quality musical acts to enhance the festivities.